SC Minority Leader: Comptroller General Must Apologize For “Ignorant” Statements

Columbia, SC – House Democratic Leader Todd Rutherford called on SC Comptroller General Richard Eckstrom to apologize for his inflammatory comments regarding SC State University on Wednesday. Eckstrom was quoted in the Budget and Control Board Meeting saying, “these are kids that are going there (SC State) because they can’t get into these other schools.” He also commented that we shouldn’t call SC State a historically black college because we don’t call other schools historically white colleges.

House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford released the following statement in response to Eckstrom’s comments.

“Richard Eckstrom should immediately apologize to the students and alumni of South Carolina State University for his uninformed, ignorant, and embarrassing statements earlier today. Those comments demonstrated a severe lack of understanding of our only public, historically black college in South Carolina.

As a result of his callous remarks, Mr. Eckstrom has insulted the names of prominent SC State alumni such as Congressman Jim Clyburn, General Abraham Turner, Former State Supreme Court Chief Justice Ernest Finney, Judge Matthew Perry, and the first African-American woman elected to the South Carolina legislature Juanita Goggins.

It seems as though Republicans can’t get through one week without making an offensive comment directed at African-Americans. I also call on the Republican leaders of South Carolina to condemn Mr. Eckstrom’s remarks to show that this kind of ignorance has no place in our political discourse.”

####

(Editor’s Note: The above communication is a news release and does not necessarily reflect the editorial position of FITSNews.com. To submit your letter, news release, email blast, media advisory or issues statement for publication, click here).